The video, posted on Funny or Die, works because the network – which somewhere along the line morphed from cable's answer to PBS to the round-the-clock Reality TV version of "The Jerry Springer Show" – has become a parody of itself.

It's a multi-ring circus of large families, little people, polygamists, hoarders and bakers (full disclosure: we do love the "Cake Boss”). What can you say about a network whose biggest stars range from Kate Gosselin to Sarah Palin to the woman hooked on eating detergent on the hard-to-watch "My Strange Addiction?"

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TLC, at times, seems like one big cry for help – or at least for comedy.

That's why we're tickled by the Funny or Die spoof and a new viral video from Tom Hanks, lampooning TLC's "Toddler & Tiaras."

In the short, which premiered this week on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and is approaching 1 million YouTube hits, Hanks plays himself as the kind of scary kiddie-pageant parent that populates the often frightening "Toddlers & Tiaras."

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Hanks exhorts his 6-year-old "daughter" Sophie (rhymes with "trophy") to dance with "sexy feet" as she trains for the “Miss Ultimate Sexy Baby Nevada” pageant. He plops a fright wig on her and gushes that she looks "just like a Bratz doll!" He squirts her with water anytime she makes a misstep or tries to eat, as if training a dog.

"I know what it's like to be a kid," he notes. "I played one in 'Big.'"

The video has some fun cameos, including one that plays into the surprise ending. Speaking of (possible) surprise endings, "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant" is a real TLC show while "Super Quick Weddings" is a joke from the Funny or Die video, whose tagline is: "TLC – The Learning Channel, for some reason..."